


Perchance to dream, Part 1

by justinsbuzz



Series: Celestial Connverse-gence arc [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Dreams and Nightmares, F/F, F/M, Gen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 04:37:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18542419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justinsbuzz/pseuds/justinsbuzz
Summary: A few months after capturing Jasper and the rest of the gem mutants, Steven and Connie hang out in a shared dream, only to have someone butting in unannounced.....





	Perchance to dream, Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> back, and with a new arc. a little bit rusty, but it's the start of trying to tie everything between the fanfic and the canon story together. this arc is going to be a tough one to write, but maybe once i start writing more, I'll get back into the grove of things.

Perchance to dream, Part 1.

The ground below was of a light cream color, with come splotches of brown, and the casual disks of pepperoni, containing pools of olive oil filled with schools of peper-anas. They learned the hard way not to go near them as Steven flew through the air, dressed as Archimicarus, with Connie dressed as Lisa, wrapping her arms around Stevens neck at breakneck speed. 

“WHEEEE!!!!!!!” Connie yelled into Steven’s ear. “This is, hands down, the best date we’ve ever been on!”

“Let’s not set the bar that high. It’s still a dream!” Steven yelled back, every so often flapping his arms, despite the real need to do so. “But yeah, it’s going to be hard to top this!”

“It’s our dreams, Steven! No bar can be too high! It’s our personal sandbox of imagination and we’re flying on 4K graphics, Biscuit!” Connie yelled, squeezing Steven tighter. “Pocky forest head!”

For a few moments, Steven wasn’t concentrating on flying, but more on everything that has happened in the past few years. But after the chaos, the insecurities, the confusion, things were getting better since the fallout on Homeworld. Being snapped back into dreamland, Steven narrowly dodged a large stalk of Pocky. With a little navigating, he and Connie were able to break through the canopy of chocolate sticks to reach the pink sky once again. Steven what worried that the near dream-kicked crash would have shaken Connie, but looking behind him, he could see Connie with a broad smile on her face, and howling with excitement.

“WOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Nice stunt, Steven!” Connie yelled, with one arm around Stevens neck, and another raised in the sky. “Best. Dream. EVER!!!”

And indeed, it was. Emphasis on was. Their joyful cheering had turned into silent confusion as the sky slowly turned black. The air that had rushed around them had died down and faded away. All became still around the two teenagers. And then slowly, Steven felt Connie being lifted off of his back through some unseen force. Steven turned around, still floating himself, to see Connie drifting away, with a distressed look on her face.

“Steven…..What is happening?” Connie asked in a nervous tone. “Something…is pulling me…away”

“Connie!” Steven yelled back at Connie, trying all of his might to reach out and grab her, but it was no use. “Connie! This isn’t me! Is it you?! Are we going back to Aquamarine’s ship?!”

“No! I got over that! I think…” Connie replied to Steven, with both of her arms slowly being raised to her sides. “This is definitely not one of my nightmares. Those usually are about showing up late to school as my gem-sona and without any clothes! Honestly, in contrast, this isn’t so bad! It’s bad, but at least I got…clothes?”

Connie looked down at herself to see she was no longer wearing Lisa’s outfit, but wearing a shirt, jeans, and her bomber jacket. She wasn’t as tall as she was before. She was 13 again. Steven was growing more terrified by the second as he looked at himself to see that he was wearing his normal outfit, and as short as he was before, when he went to Homeworld. This was beginning to feel unnaturally familiar. He’s had no recollection of being here, but it feels to be familiar.

“Connie, I have no clue what’s happening!” Steven called out to Connie, trying to reassure her even though the distance between them are slowly increasing. “All I know is that we’re going to wake up soon! None of this is real!”

“Oh, I would have to disagree, Starlight.” A disturbingly gentile voice was heard throughout the void. Steven knew that voice all too well. he had hoped he would never hear that voice again. “Did you really think you could escape me that easily? Escape my power? My reach?”

Steven didn’t want to turn around. But forces beyond his own forced him to do so. He gazed into the ephemeral darkness to see a large ghost-white hand, with black nails almost as big as his head, and sharper than any sword he’s ever seen. This hand, he’s seen it before, but only from a distance. Up close, it was one of tremendous and horrific scale. And at the moment those fingers grasped Stevens small body, the darkness that surrounded Steven and Connie had vanished, revealing that they were inside the room of White Diamond. The entire room was stripped and voided of color, the walls a slate grey, no windows, no doors. All there was, was a pedestal that White Diamond stood upon, and near the base of it stood both Blue and Yellow Diamond. Even they too were devoid of their original hue, and were now standing in the horrifically iconic ‘T’ pose. Their faces blank but only a disturbing smile remains. 

“Steven?! What is thi-” Connie attempted to call and reach out to Steven, but her body was bound by arms familiar. Amethyst, Garnet, and Pearl were there as well, also without color or emotion. Both Amethyst and Pearl held her arms back, while Garnet wrapped one arm around her body and her other hand wrapped around Connie’s mouth and forcing her to look on at the nightmare that was unfolding in front of her. Connie’s mouth had froze shut while her eyes did the screaming for her.

“Ste Ven? That’s the lie you’re running with, Pink?” White diamond asked with a cruel smirk on her face “That’s the game you choose to play? The, how does her kind say it? ‘The hill you choose to die on?’. The concept of death is both hilarious and not worth grasping. But y, my, my, my, you are just so much more trouble than you’re worth. No surprise there. And the beings you surround yourself with is a mirror of all of your pathetic flaws that I was glad to be rid of. A worthless blemish in dire need to be…. rubbed out.”

White Diamond’s face contorted into one of pure psychosis and the epitome of lunacy as her other hands finger nails reached out to Stevens gem. The moment the fingernails touched it, the walls around them became transparent, showing the remains of Homeworld, once with few, but multiple colors, now bone-bleached white. Tall buildings were torn down, the pedestals and houses for the other diamonds were chipped away and hollowed out. This was not the Homeworld Steven and Connie remembered. This place. It was still a dream, isn’t it?

“No….no, please.” Steven whimpered to White Diamond, feeling a sense of dread filling him up as he wasn’t sure if this was all a dream or not.

“Your friends’ little escapade finally reached a boiling point, which gave me a chance to clean things up here on Homeworld. To cleans it of impurities.” White Diamond said chillingly. “And your other compatriots, Blue and Yellow. They will not escape either. They may have fled for a second time, but I know where they are now. You were never meant to escape my reach so easily. I know you wanted to change my mind, but that’s not how things turned out, did it? I know what you’re planning and it’s not going to work. None of this will play out they you hope, Pink.”

Her fingernails began to dig deeper around Steven’s gem. Steven desperately wanted to scream, to wake up. Connie’s eyes welled up in tears, screaming as loud as she could for Steven, but all anyone could do is stare as the love of her life is beyond her reach of defense, and Steven could only watch as whites hand closed tightly around him.

“Pink. It’s time to come out now. Time for this game to end. Time….to end this charade of a reality. Come back. Come out.”

And with that, Steven’s gem popped out.

Steven screamed out loud as he flew upright in his bed. Sweat pouring out of him. He clutched his stomach and felt that his gem was still there. His eyes began to focus around him, seeing at that moment the door blowing open and Garnet rushing in to check up on him, with Obsidian in tow. 

“Steven!” Garnet exclaimed, making her way over to Steven.

“It was her.” Steven said, still realling from what could be considered as a ‘croak dream’.

“White Diamond?” Garnet asked, some how knowing what the dream was about.

“How did you..” Steve was about to ask, but Obsidian peaked her head out and waved from behind Garnet.

“I’m not going to say I was spying on you and Connie zooming around in your dreams.” Obsidian said, trying to defend herself, but changed course. “But I’m not-not going to say that I was watching you two having fun.”

“Fun?” Garnet asked in a stern and concerned voice.

“Nothing bad, just zooming around in Stevens head, flying through trees, watching the pepperoni sunset on a cheesy beach, reinacting scenes from books they’ve both read.” Obsidian reassured Garnet. “But seriously, back to the other, larger thing.”

“Garnet? How was she able to…? she said that…. could things have been different? Could I have done something different on Homeworld?” Steven asked, with tears welling up in his eyes. Garnet went over to hug and console him. He hasn’t had a nightmare that bad since he was young child after accidentally watching a scene from a horror movie.

“Steven. Things can always be different.” Garnet told Steven still hugging him. “I’ve seen all the different ways of how things could have happened. but sometimes, that doesn’t matter. What’s important is not what you could have done, but what you can do now.”

Steven was somewhat confused as to what Garnet was saying. 

“But could I have changed White Diamond’s mind? Could she still change?” Steven asked somewhat concerned about his dream. He stared down at his gem. “Could… could my gem be removed?”

Garnet was taken aback by Steven’s previous question.

“That’s not possible.” Garnet said flatly. “Steven, you are as much of that gem as that gem is to you. It can’t be taken away that easily.”

“But White Diamond was able to pull it out.” Steven stated with deep concern She also said something about never being able to… I don’t remember.”

“Do you want me to try and find out?” Obsidian asked.

“How? I can barely remember parts of the dream. It all slowly fading.” Steven said, sounding frustrated at how he can’t remember something so crucial. “Is it even possible for you to go that deep, or is it even safe?”

“It should be. I’m just delve into your subconscious memories. That’s where all the good stuff is, like the first time you played your first cord on a guitar, or how you felt when you first met Connie.” Obsidian said fondly. “If anything, I’ll find something that would traumatize me, and you lived a relatively stable life. I got this.”

Obsidian stat on Steven’s bed and stared into Steven’s still watery eyes.

“This better not hurt him, or else I’m bubbling you.” Garnet said sternly.

“Don’t worry. Nothing can go wrong here.” Obsidian said confidently. “Besides, if White Diamond said something crucial, we need to know and fast three two one BOOM!”

In a swift movement, Obsidian pressed her middle and index fingers to Stevens temple and everything when bright. Memories were pouring out; how he arrived to Homeworld, meeting White Diamond for the first and last time, planning the ball, dancing and fusing with Connie, being locked away inside that room. but at that point, things began to turn somewhat fuzzy. Things went from color to black and white slowly. He had another dream where he got into contact with his dad and Bismuth on earth, which he knew didn’t happen successfully. He did talk to both Blue and Yellow diamond into escaping. Gems were rebelling across Homeworld, but in another flash, everything looked quiet, with no gems rebelling at all. Amethyst was nowhere to be seen, even though he remembered her being there and helping them escape with the rebel gems, but as he was running, she still had all the gems with him, including Amethyst’s gem. They got to the leg ship, but it was only Steven, Connie, Blue and Yellow Diamond, but everything blurred out, and he saw White Diamond’s Pearl stopping them. White’s ship came to life. Things began to move fast. Peridot, Lapis and Bismuth were there, looking different than they do now. He fused with all of the gems, a large foot nearly stomping on them. And for a brief moment, he saw a large, black gem, with a mouth full of lava, fighting the large mech ship. They burred out again and he heard voices.

“New orders. Project Obsidian is to be scrapped at once. Too much resources have been used with no results. Project Cluster’s been greenlit. Gives us a chance to do something useful with all of those shattered miscreants.” The voice spoke coldly. Steven saw vats of colored liquid, containing black shards, with one being almost spherical, but egg shaped. Then as fast as all the memories came out, they vanished and Steven was back in his bed. He was stairing directly in front of him at a disturbed and distressed and traumatized Obsidian.

“Obsidian. What was-” Steven was about to ask before he was cut off by Obsidian opening the window and jumping out of it as fast as she could. “WAIT! OBSIDIAN!”

She never looked back as she ran along the beach.

“Garnet. We didn’t see the dream. I think… I think I might have seen another path.” Steven said, sounding concerned. “We didn’t escape Homeworld the way we did before.”

Garnet’s glasses vanished, showing worried and distressed eyes.

“I know, Steven. I know.” She spoke quietly. 

At that moment, Steven’s cellphone was ringing, with a ring tone that was definitely belonging to Connie. It just dawned on him that She was in that dream too. She watched Steven die. At this realization, he snatched up the phone from his night stand. Upon answering it, he was face to face with a red eyed Connie with tears streaking down her face.

“Steven, what the blazes was that?” Connie asked furiously, but trying to keep her voice down.

“I- I don’t know. I’m not sure if it was an actual nightmare or if it was really White Diamond trying to reach out to me.” Steven said, both trying to explain what had happened and trying to console Connie, but he could only do one thing at a time. “Connie, It’s ok. I’m here.”

“ARE YOU?!” Connie squeaked, trying to hold back tears. “Quick. Show me your gem. I need to know you’re ok.”

Steven was taken aback by this request, but he showed her anyway, which seemed to have calmed her down.

“Steven…. you died. You died in my dreams…you either passed out or died in her hand. You fell to the ground and you wouldn’t wake up. And your gem….” Connie sternly whispered, trying to dry her eyes. “you…you’re not allowed to do that again, is that clear, mister!”

Steven understood her frustration. He woke up just as his gem was taken out. Connie, on the other hand, was still stuck there watching everything unfold.

“Connie, I- I’m sorry. I didn’t know that was going to happen. I don’t even think that was me.” Steven said, trying to remember parts of his dream. But the more he thought about it, the fuzzier it got. “I think…no…everything is ok. It’s late. Maybe we should meet up tomorrow to talk?”

Connie sighed at the prospect of trying to go back to sleep after everything she saw. Secretly, Steven felt the same way.

“We’re definitely meeting up tomorrow. But Steven…” Connie started to speak, but the words weren’t coming to her as easily as either of them would have hoped. Steven decided to try his hand at finishing her sentence.

“Do you want to keep the phones on? Just so we can talk to eachother, or just…keep an eye on eachother?” Steven asked awkwardly. Connie let out a sigh of relief.

“Would…would that be weird?” Connie asked, suddenly self-conscious but relieved someone had asked that out loud. Steven looked up at Garnet who was staring at the floor for a few seconds before nodding to Steven.

“Don’t see why not.” Garnet said “Usually, that would be Pearls job, but for tonight, I think you two should look out for each other. Just try not to stay up too late.”

“Yes ma’am.” Connie said, slightly cheerfully. 

“We won’t, Garnet.” Steven said with a small smile on his face. Any time he would feel any joy, the intrusive thought of White Diamond taking his gem would come in and ruin his mindset. “G’night, Garnet.”

“Goodnight, you two.” Garnet replied, her shades reappearing once more as she walked out the door. They both stayed up for almost half an hour before falling asleep, their phones still on and resting on stands in position to watch each other, neither of them being alone. 

That morning, Steven didn’t have any dreams after falling asleep, but just a couple of fleeting images pass through his mind, one of those images being of a huge woman with 8 arms. It seemed vaguely familiar, but nothing was really coming to him. When he woke up though, his phone was off, and there was still no sign of Obsidian, leaving Steven feeling uneasy about how things were last night. Obsidian comes and goes a lot, but she always around in the morning, hanging out with Amethyst and his dad sometimes. But when he went downstairs, he saw Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Greg huddled around the kitchen island, speaking only in whispers. When Pearl turned around to notice Steven, the group became silent. Before Steven could say good morning to everyone, Garnet spoke.

“Steven. we have a small problem.” Garnet said curtly. “And also, good morning.”

“um….what’s going on?” Steven asked cautiously.

“What? Nothing! Nothing at all.” Pearl answered, looked not at all nervous. “We’re all just casually sitting around, drinking coffee like normal. Talking like normal. Everything is normal and not deteriorating into an absolute melt down.”

Pearl then grabbed the nearest mug of coffee and proceeded to drink it all down in one gulp. She then slammed the cup down on the counter while her eyes were twitching, and attempting to grin, despite the fact that she just drank something organic. she knew she was going to pay for that later. Trying to ignore Pearl, Steven proceeded to ask another question.

“Have any of you seen Obsidian? She ran off last night after I woke up from my nightmare with Connie and I facing White Diamond.” Steven asked, before realizing a crucial part he missed out. “Also, I had a shared nightmare with Connie about White Diamond…. removing my gem….and something about an ominous message.”

“That’s actually what we were talking about, Steven.” Greg said, looking very worried. “We haven’t Obsidian all morning.”

“Steven. in a few minutes, I’m going to need you and Connie to go look for Obsidian.” Garnet said. “She might have gone to the Beach City forest, since that’s where she likes to spend most of her time. It’s a lot of ground to cover, so I’ll have Amethyst and some of the Famethysts help cover more ground.”

“Wait, Connie is here?” Steven asked, somewhat surprised that she would be here before he woke up. Garnet, instead of answering vocally, raised her hand and began non-verbally counting down from 4. By the time she got to one, Connie arrived at the doorway. She attempted to kick open the door, which was already opened, leaving her kicking the air and loosing balance. After falling over, Steven ran over to help her up, in which she shot up from the ground and wrapped her arms around Steven.

“Steven!” Connie exclaimed, squeezing him tightly. “Steven! You’re ok! Wait, are you ok?”

“Yeah.” Steven squeaked while being nearly crushed by Connie’s desperately needed hug “Looking some oxygen, but I’m ok.”

“Oh, right. Sorry” Connie said, easing up on Steven and backing away a little, but still holding his hand. “It’s just…. never mind. You’re ok.”

“Connie. Are YOU ok?” Steven asked, but before he could get an answer, garnet interrupted.

“Ok, nearly everyone is here, so might as well get started.” Garnet spoke authoritatively. “Obsidian is on the loose. She isn’t too dangerous, but we still need to keep an eye on her. After she tried to look into Steven’s memories of the nightmare, she bolted and hasn’t returned. It’s our job to get her back here so we can figure out what she saw.”

Garnet looked from one person to another.

“Greg, You and Pearl are going to take the van and drive around the city. She might have not gotten too far. But if she has, Steven, Connie, I’m going to need you two to check out the forest near Brooding Point. It’s a lot of ground to cover, so Amethyst, I’m going to need you to get any other Famethysts to help cover more ground.”

At that point, Garnet staired out of the window, looking out on the beach like she’s waiting for Obsidian to pop up.

“I’ll stay behind, just in case she comes back. Remember, she’s probably frightened, so be gentle with her.”

“shouldn’t we just, like, leave her be?” Amethyst chimed in, seeming to be the only one that wasn’t worried about the whole situation. “I mean, whatever she saw in there might have left her needing some time alone. We all do that from time to time. Is it really necessary to hunt her down like this?”

Garnet looked over at Amethyst with the same expression she had before.

“Trust me. We. Need. To. Find. Her. It’s not so much of what she might have seen that bothers me, but what I’m seeing right now.” Garnet said. “the sooner we find her, the sooner we can get her to a safe place.”

“That bad, huh?” Amethyst asked while jumping down from the chair “OK, I’ll head over to the Diamonds cave and see if any of them are up. See you out in the forest, S and C!”

“Alright, Crystal Gems, move out.” Garnet exclaimed. At that moment, Pearl and Greg got into the van and drove off. And as Connie made her way to the door, she turned to see that Steven was still in the kitchen area.

“Steven? You coming?” Connie asked.

“Just a sec. I’ll be out in a moment.” Steven replied as he turned to Garnet.

“Garnet.” Steven said, catching the attention of a spaced-out Garnet. “How bad are we talking here? What would happen if we don’t find her in time? Is this really about…. White Diamond?”

Garnet struggled to find the right words to answer his question.

“Steven. I see a lot of outcomes of what would happen if you don’t find her soon. Just know that she needs you and Connie now. Head to the forest near the cliff north of here.” Garnet said, putting a hand on Steven’s shoulder. “Trust me.”

Steven nodded and went towards the door.

“And Steven, Connie.” Garnet called out to them as they were about to go through the door. “I love you both.”

Steven and Connie smiled as they made their way towards the forest.

**Author's Note:**

> next time: Steven and Connie have a heart to heart talk with each-other about what they had seen the night before, all while trying to find Obsidian as soon as they can.


End file.
